Remington 870 slug barrel and sabot question

msmith

msmith

New member
I have two 870s and I am thinking about either turning one into a dedicated slug gun, or making the other one a "combo" gun. My question is; Which slug barrel would you recommend, a factory Remington barrel with cantilever scope moount, a Hastings slug barrel with cantilever scope mount, or a Hastings slug barrel with cantilever scope mount and controlled sabot discharge muzzlebrake? Another option I thought about is going for an Ithaca DeerSlayer II, but that would mean a bit more $$.

My other question is regarding sabot slugs. Which ones seem to have the best performance? I figger I'll take the top 3 and see which one works best in the barrel I wind up purchasing.

Thanks in advance,

Mike
 
My cousin has the factory barrel with cantilever scope mount. Has used the Remington 1oz solid copper sabots with great success the past 3 years. From what I’ve seen this do both on paper and to a deer, won’t get any complaints out of me.

B..
 
Have you handled a Ithaca DeerSlayer II ? They rattle more than any shotgun I've ever seen.........I have a 870 cantilever deer in 20 gauge with the thumbhole stock,it's a good shooting gun.
 
Quote:
Have you handled a Ithaca DeerSlayer II ? They rattle more than any shotgun I've ever seen.........I have a 870 cantilever deer in 20 gauge with the thumbhole stock,it's a good shooting gun.



No, I haven't handled one. I do have an older model 37 with modified choke that is really sweet.
 
You might also consider the Mossberg rifled barrel with cantilever mount. I bought one for my 870 and was shocked at how accurate it is! Plus it has a brake that helps out a lot. My other slug setup is another 870 that has a Remington 20" rifled barrel with sights only. Both are plenty accurate! The Hastings has a reputation of being better, but I'm not sure you need much better than what I've seen from these two barrels! My only complaint is that the Mossberg barrel came with a scope that didn't live very long after sight-in..still a good price though.
 
I like the Winchester Supreme Platinum Tips out of my Winchester 1300 fully rifled barrel. They shot the best out of the 3 kinds I tried. The copper solids work real well too. They are the only slugs my buddy and his dad use.

kevlars
 
So no one has any experience with the Hastings barrels, yet no complaints with the factory barrels.

So far on ammo we have Remington copper solids and Winchester supreme. Anyone tried the Hornady SST or Federals?
 
I have had the Remington rifled slug barrel for 14-15 years but with rifle sights. I used to shoot the old BRI sabot sand now shoot exclusive Federal Sabots.
I switch this barrel out with a 30" for waterfowl. The two barrels and the shotgun receiver have a matching camo pattern I made. I left the natural wood alone.
 
Thanks for the reply guys. I ordered a Remington 23 inch cantilever barrel and a Loopy 2-7 shotgun scope. After checking out a lot of the slugs, I have determined that ammo is the most expensive part of this gig. Therefore I have been researching handloading sabot slugs. I think I have found a load to play with that should be cost effective, accurate, and effective on game. We'll see. I can get set up to load a hundred rounds for about $140 - $150. That includes press, powder, primed hulls, & sabot slugs. After that they would load for about 75 cents each. A feller could afford to work up some loads and even practice a bit at that price. Like I said, we'll see.

Mike
 
I don't know how many slugs you plan to shoot a year.

The somewhat expensive part is mainly figuring out which flavor your barrel likes best, once you know that then that part is over and done and just keep on hand the ones your barrel likes.

I have a 20" remington rifled barrel for one of my 870's.

It likes the "big and slow" sabots better than the muzzle loader or big handgun bullets in a sabot.

I have had good luck with the winchester BRI, rem copper solids, lightfield hybrids, and the federals with the Barnes copper solids being the best of them in my barrel.
 
I found out over the years in search of the perfect slug and barrel combo that Remington barrels prefere Remington copper solids, and the Hastings seem to like the Federal Barnes Expanders best! Start out with those and I may save you a bunch of money!
 
I have an Rem 11-87 with the factory rifled barrel w/ cantilever scope mount. Shoots the Rem copper solid slugs great! 3-4" groups at 150 yards no problem. The slugs will almost penetrate 3/8" plate steel at that yardage. Awesome knockdown power. Has a lot of kick and thought the Hastings with the muzzlebreak looked good but I've been very satisfied with the Remington.
 
The accuracy I've been getting out of my Mossberg and Remington barrels is WAY better than 3-4". If you experiment with ammo, yours will likely be better too. I've been shooting the Remington Corlokt Ultra Bonded sabot slugs and got under a 2 inch group at 100yd! It's not unusual to have 2 holes touching at that range either, and I'm not going to start a war by saying how good the best group actually was. Just know that if you're using a rifled barrel you don't have to settle for 3-4" groups.

Admittedly, at 100yd that's all you need, but I've seen that kind of accuracy from a smooth bore with rifled slugs, and went to rifled barrel and sabot slugs because I wanted better.
 
The Copper Solids are accurate as well as the Lightfield Hybreds. Both do their job very well.
From experience: Don't shoot unsaboted slugs from a rifled barrel. Major lead caking occurrs that is a royal pain to get out.
When you put together your reloading information please let us know as I've been toying with that idea, too.

pyledriver,
the post above you spoke of 3"-4" accuracy at 150 yards, not 100 yards. All in all that is good accuracy with heavy slugs.
 
Quote:
Mike,

Where did yoy find components and loading Data of slug reloading??

Hoggy



Midway, Ballisttic Products, Gardner's Cache, Slugsrus, ASSA. I guess some of the components come with data.
 
Hey pyledriver, I just didn't want to brag too much that's all. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif That was just going out and and quick checking the zero to make sure I could hit a deer, about 4 shots total, no bench or anything. I bet you can get better out of it if you really dial it in and take some time. 3" at 150 yds is good to me right before season opens /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif Over 150yds I'll let my .338 win Mag do the work. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif Anybody using one of these slug guns has to love the close range performance without a doubt! Having a good slug gun is a great addition.
 
I know its a bit late but my dad and I both have hastings and think they are great. His is the normal and mine is the economy.

For slugs my dad shoots the BRI and they are pretty accurate but I think the performance on game is not great. He has shot deer that have gotten up and run away and died 300-600 yds away, the slugs went right through without expanding. The deer were dead but lots of tracking. I use the Winchester partition gold and like them alot. They have been accurate and effective. A few others I know prefer the partitions. I tried a box of the the new xp3 winchester rounds this year durring sight-in and they seem prety consistant on paper. Last year I tried the Rem corelokts and they were not bad just not as consistant as the partitions.

After the lead in the meat scare I have been thinking about using the all copper slugs (explains the box of xp3) but I have 5-6 boxes to shoot up first.

If you are making a dedicated slug gun you might want to have the barrel pined. When I switch from one barrel and back it always takes a few shots to get sighted in again.

Mark
sorry its so long /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif
 
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